


A Healing Touch

by youmadeeverythingokay



Category: Schitt's Creek
Genre: Developing Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Massage, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-16
Updated: 2021-02-16
Packaged: 2021-03-18 20:13:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29495610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/youmadeeverythingokay/pseuds/youmadeeverythingokay
Summary: Patrick comes back to Rose Apothecary after pulling a muscle in the gym, and David offers his massage skills to help relieve some of the pain.However this makes David realise that everything he's feeling for Patrick might not be entirely platonic after all.
Relationships: Patrick Brewer/David Rose
Comments: 17
Kudos: 168





	A Healing Touch

**Author's Note:**

> Set sometime between and Sebastien Raine & Friends and Family,  
> for my wonderful friend Taryn who wanted to see this!
> 
> Hope it lives up to your expectations!

The bell over the door rings, and David turns to see his business partner walking through the door in a pair of sweats and a plain white t-shirt. It’s the most state of undress he has ever seen him in, now used to seeing Patrick in nothing less than a blue button down and cheap should-never-be-worn-in-public jeans. 

“I’m sorry, the hippie coven is two towns down, we actually use showers here.”

“Ha, ha, David. I was at the gym and lost track of time, and I told you I'd be here by 11, so I didn't want to be late.”

David suppressed a smile at the fact this man rushed back to make their plans, which were never really set in stone anyway. Just a general _let’s meet at 11 to finish unpacking the rest of the boxes._

“Well that was very considerate of you. Although it would be more considerate in the future to maintain the hygiene levels I would expect from patrons of this store.”

Patrick did that little upside down smile that made his stomach do something he chooses to ignore.   
“Okay David, noted. Shall we get on with it then?” patting his shoulder on the way past him.

He muttered non committedly, but with a side smile to let him know he was playing along. 

The afternoon sped along quickly, jokes and friendly banter passing between them as if they’d known each other for years, and at this stage it really felt like they had. David had never been so comfortable in anyone’s company, and certainly not this quickly. He was there now with Stevie, although that had taken it’s time.   
Wires had gotten crossed along the way, lines that should never have been crossed had been ignored, and it almost wrecked what is now the most solid friendship he has ever had.

But with Patrick it’s different. 

It’s safe, and comfortable and stable. Or maybe Patrick is just all of those things and it rubs off on David. 

Either way, he’s not going to pretend he doesn’t like it. 

He heard a quick intake of breath and spun round to see Patrick nearly drop the box of candles he was carrying out from the back room. 

“You okay?” He asked quickly. 

“Yeah, fine, just lost my footing.” Patrick replied, although it seemed to be through clenched teeth. He let it go and carried on unpacking the rest of the scarves he was working his way through. 

It was another 20 minutes before it happened again, Patrick reaching up to one of the top shelves and this time let out a noise of what is clearly pain, as his hand shot round to his shoulder, grasping tightly. 

“What’s going on?! Did you injure yourself carrying those boxes? Are you going to sue me?! No, right? You chose to be here. And I know you wouldn’t. Right?! Oh god do I need a lawyer? You’re the business guy you have to tell me!”

“David, calm down, no one is suing you.” 

He stopped his spiralling for a second and tried to focus on the fact that Patrick was hurt and really that’s all that matters at the moment. 

“Sorry. Are you okay though?”

“I’m fine just.. I think I pulled something at the gym, my shoulder kind of hurts.”

“Kind of hurts like stubbing your toe, or kind of hurts like you fell off the deck of an Ibizan party cruise and everyone was too high or stoned to notice so you had to get Paris Hilton to pull you up with a rope ladder and limp with you to your cabin?”

“I.. have no idea what that feels like but I’m going to say somewhere in between. Paris Hilton, really?”

“Yes, surprisingly impressive upper body strength.”

Patrick let out a short burst of laughter before flinching again. 

“Okay, get down from there and let me take a look. Did you only just notice it when you got here?”

At this Patrick looked a little sheepish. 

“No, I noticed it as soon as it happened but I thought I could work through the pain but I didn’t want to let you down.”

David sucked his lips into his mouth, trying to suppress a smile at the thoughtfulness of this man but also suppress the frustration that he wouldn’t put his own well being first. Everyone else did, why shouldn’t he?

Patrick stepped down and looked up with a soft smile on his face before turning around and stretching his back out, rolling his shoulders around. 

“It’s just round about here.” He pressed his fingers firmly just above the shoulder blade on his left, indicating where the pain was. “I really think i’ll be fine though, I just lifted too much too quickly.”

David quickly pushed an image of Patrick out of his mind, sweaty, on a bench in some dark unrecognisable gym, pushing weights, his shoulders and arms tensing and flexing, almost as quickly as it arrived, choosing not to linger on why it was there in the first place. He would look good though. 

He shook his head slightly and ran his hands over the other man’s shoulder, thumbs pressing in firmly to the area that Patrick had said was sore. 

He heard him let out a deep groan, mixed with a slight wince of pain. 

“Uh, that feels good. Hurts, but it’s good.”

David hummed and tried to get the right amount of pressure to help with the pain. 

“I’m actually quite good at relieving knots of tension. I used to get a lot of massages and have been known to give quite a few memorable experiences myself.”

“Hm, i’m sure you have.”

There was a beat of silence as those words hung in the air between them. Suddenly Patrick jerked away, and kept his eyes averted, looking into the boxes around him and refusing to look back at David. 

“But it’s fine, you don’t have to. Can’t imagine that’s how you want to spend your afternoon when there’s work to be done here.”

“Hey.” Patrick kept rummaging through the box, clearly not looking for anything in particular. “Hey, Patrick.” He took a step forward and put what he hoped was a comforting hand on his shoulder. “It’s fine. I want to help. Let me help.”

Patrick finally looked up at him for a few moments before a small smile graces his gentle features. 

“Okay. Thank you, David.” 

“Anytime. Here, let me lock the door and we can go through to the back.”

He locks the door and follows to where Patrick had gone through as he asked. 

“How, um…” Patrick looked nervous. “How do you want me?”

David’s breath caught in his throat and he tried not to let it show, swallowing thickly before gesturing to the sofa they had bought for breaks. 

“Lie face down on that, I couldn’t quite get the friction I needed before, do you think you could maybe take off your shirt? It’s just better than trying to get it all out over cheap material.”

“Cheap? This shirt cost me $15 David.” He said with that stupid smile again.

“Exactly. Now, yes or no? If not it’s totally fine I can work with it. I can sanitize the lack of taste off later.” 

“No, it’s fine, I can take it off.”

After a brief moment of hesitation, Patrick pulled the offending item over his head with a small flinch and David could do nothing to stop the quick once up and down with his eyes over the now shirtless man in front of him. 

He swallowed again and watched as Patrick lay face down on their sofa, and then thought about how he was going to have to kneel on this floor that they haven’t had properly cleaned yet. 

The thought had barely crossed his mind before Patrick was laying his shirt flat out on the floor beside him, the gesture so sweet that David couldn’t even bring himself to say he would probably rather kneel on the floor than on a shirt that was used post gym with no shower. 

“I’ll be right back, I know just the thing for this, actually.”

He went back through to the stockroom and started glancing over all the boxes, knowing there was one in here with specially designed massage oils that would be ideal. 

He tried to ignore the fact his heart was beating a bit faster than it had been a couple of minutes ago. He’d never really looked at Patrick that way before. 

Well, obviously their teasing had always been bordering on flirting. And he had noticed that Patrick obviously had a body that filled out his tight blue shirts just perfectly.

And if truth be told, that night with Sebastien, he had spent the whole next day wondering what to tell Patrick about it, wondering _if_ he could tell Patrick, because he didn’t want to see any look of judgement on his face, but also didn’t want to hide it from him to risk potentially hurting his feelings in any way. And now that he thinks about it, that feeling could almost be described as guilt. 

Now, seeing Patrick spread out shirtless on their sofa in the back room, the image never leaving his mind for more than a couple of seconds, he thinks over every interaction he’s had with Patrick. 

Every joke that he had been on the receiving end of but shot one right back because he knew it was all in good humour. Every smile that’s made David’s breath stutter in a way he couldn’t name. Every time Alexis tried to flirt with him and the anger he tried to pretend wasn’t there. 

And the way his heart had almost stopped dead in his chest when Patrick firmly and confidently stated he would get the money for the store, making sure he would stay in David’s company. 

_Oh…_

_Oh._

He shook himself firmly and grabbed the oil he finally spotted before heading back in, Patrick was in pain and that’s all that mattered right now. That’s all that had to matter. 

Patrick was still lying there with his eyes closed, head rested in folded arms. He hadn’t noticed him re-enter, so David just took this moment to really look at him, and to let himself look. 

The planes of his back were perfect, curved shoulders down to the perfect arch in his back, and with the relaxed look on his face as he trusted that David would be back soon to take care of him. 

David knew he had become comfortable with him, knew they had built a relationship that was strong and equal, how had he not noticed it turning into something else? 

Or maybe it had always been something else and David was just too dense to notice it. 

Because without his permission, Patrick had suddenly become someone that David couldn’t bear to lose, someone that he thought about the second he woke, until the moment his eyes closed at the end of the day.

Patrick’s eyes opened slowly as he must have sensed David standing like a creep at the door, ogling his business partner as he lay waiting for a massage that David had suggested. 

With nothing more than a small smile, he walked over and knelt on the floor beside him and focussed on the task at hand, rubbing circles around the tense muscles in his shoulders, focussing on what he could tell were hot spots.  
And if his hands spent a little too long wandering down and touching as much of Patrick’s back than was purely necessary, then who was going to question him?

The noises Patrick was making were doing nothing to dampen the feelings coursing through David’s body now, and now that he was aware of what he felt, it just made everything so much more intense. 

“Oh, god, David, that feels so good.”

David’s hands halted their movements and he closed his eyes with a soft sigh. 

“Sorry, was that -”

A few more moments of silence before David replied in an even softer voice. 

“No, no you’re fine. I’m glad it’s helping.”

Patrick nodded silently, hazel eyes feeling like they were staring into David’s soul, not for a single second looking away.

David let his hand gently stroke one line down Patrick’s spine, watching his eyes flutter shut ever so briefly. 

There was a moment when his eyes reopened, locked on his own, David could have just leaned in, closed the gap and embraced the joy that he’s sure Patrick’s lips would provide him. But before he could indulge himself, Patrick cleared his throat and sat upright, breaking the connection. 

“Thank you, David, that was… that was perfect. Exactly what I needed.”

“Oh. Good. I mean, that’s good. Happy to help.”

“Could I… um…” 

“Oh, yes, of course.” 

David stood quickly and handed Patrick his shirt back, watching with a tinge of regret as he slid it back over his head. 

“Back to work then, huh?” 

The softness was gone, and Patrick’s voice was back to being confident and teasing, exactly the Patrick that David was used to seeing, and loved to see. 

So he tries not to focus on that feeling inside him that longs for the moment lost when it felt they were the only two people in existence.

  
  
  
  
  
  



End file.
